HILO, Hawai'i — A convicted murderer from O'ahu who was released from prison now has been charged with sexually assaulting a girl Sunday evening in a Pepe'ekeo church.

Big Island police yesterday said Peter Bailey, 49, had taken the girl to the church for choir practice, and while at the church allegedly assaulted the girl several times at about 8:30 p.m.

A family member of the girl who went to the church saw the assaults and ran for help, police were told. Other family members went to the church and detained Bailey until police arrived, police said.

Bailey, of Laupahoehoe, was charged with three counts of first-degree sex assault, and was being held last night at the Hilo police station cellblock in lieu of $300,000 bail.

Bailey was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole 28 years ago after he was convicted of murder, kidnapping and three robbery charges in the April 29, 1979, slaying of 17-year-old Carol Olandy of Makakilo. Her body was found in a Kunia pineapple field with seven bullet wounds.

The Hawai'i Paroling Authority in 1980 ordered that Bailey serve a minimum term of at least 35 years of his life sentence, meaning he would not be considered for parole before 2014. Bailey was paroled on Jan. 21, 2003, said Louise Kim McCoy, spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Safety.

Parole officials were unavailable to comment on the case last night, but there are at least two ways Bailey could have been released without serving the full 35-year minimum.

One possibility is that the parole board may have reconsidered and reduced Bailey's minimum term. Prisoners who have served at least one-third of their minimum sentences are permitted to ask the paroling authority to reduce their minimum terms so they can be paroled earlier.

Another possibility is that Bailey could have been released early through a prison furlough program.

Bailey in 1980 asked an O'ahu Circuit Court judge to reduce his life sentence to a 20-year term, saying he became a born-again Christian in prison, attended Bible classes twice a week, and wanted to "start a new life again." Judge Yoshimi Hayashi refused.

Keith Kaneshiro, who successfully prosecuted Bailey and his accomplice, Francis Talo, said he intervened to stop Bailey's application for parole in the late 1990s when Kaneshiro ran the state prison system.

Kaneshiro said he saw Bailey's name on the roster of inmates who were undergoing sex offender treatment at the minimum security Kulani Correctional Facility, and said he questioned why Bailey was there.

Bailey and Talo were convicted of kidnapping Olandy from a parking lot at the Pearl City Shopping Center. The pair said they wanted the Camaro that Olandy was driving "to do a job," according to testimony in the 1979 trial.

The two defendants then took Olandy out to the pineapple field, shot her and drove to Fort Ruger Market and robbed the store, which resulted in a second robbery conviction.

They were arrested a few minutes later, still driving Olandy's car, which contained the items she had purchased on her errand that day.

Olandy's body was located by authorities days later.

Talo, then 18, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Kaneshiro recalled Bailey as a "smooth talker," a leader of a group that was involved in a number of crimes, and blamed Bailey for instigating the Olandy murder.

"The murder that he committed was a heinous crime," Kaneshiro said. "I mean, when he shot that girl, it was unnecessary. If he wanted to take the car, he could have just taken the car and not killed her."

Kaneshiro said the case dramatizes the need to add prison space in Hawai'i to hold dangerous offenders longer.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.